This invention relates to cellular communication systems and, in particular, to a cellular call processing system that uses multiple concurrently active instances of call models to process calls that comprise mixed media communications connections.
The problem with existing cellular communication systems is that they support either a voice only or a data only communication application. In addition, the existing cellular communication systems are not adapted to handle multiple media connections or simultaneous communication connections to multiple endpoints. Therefore, the existing cellular communication systems are not adapted to the communications needs of customers who are equipped with modern communication terminal devices.
The above described problems are solved and a technical advance achieved by the present cellular call processor that uses multiple concurrently active instances of call models to process calls that comprise mixed media communications connections. The cellular call processor processes each of the media components of the mixed media communication connection in an independent, yet coordinated manner. Thus, each of the media components of the mixed media communication connection can be processed in an efficient media-specific manner and even directed to different destinations. The cellular call processor can implement this capability in a plurality of ways, one of which is to maintain the existing voice call model and create a new call model for each of the other call components in a media-specific manner. Alternatively, multiple instances of the same call model can be used, with each call component being served by a separate instance of the call processing code. Same set of call processing codes also could have multiple call models, instances of different call models could be run from the same set of codes. Communications among the various instances of the call models occur only at the call setup and release, and the call models can be implemented in the same physical network element or can be implemented in separate network elements that are customized for the type of call component being processed.